As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Great TR! Mom and I attended F&W last year and had an awesome time! Aren't mother -daughter trips wonderful?Reading your report has taken me down memory lane (and given me something fun to do while I'm at work on a Black Friday all by my lonesome...).
It might be going to make way for Avatar land, which Disney announced a while back for Animal Kingdom, but recent reports suggested that things weren't going to plan on that front, so the general view now is that Festival of the Lion King probably will be at least a bit longer now...
Sorry to jump in Sharon, but I figured I'd try and help out.
Its been awhile since I have been on here and glad to come across your trip report. I love your reports and all of your pictures. Can't wait to read more!
So nice that you were able to meet up with The Koenigs on this trip. I loved the Fisherman's Pie in Ireland too. That and the sea scallop from New Zealand were my favorite.
Caught up now. But your writings of F&WF make me hungry. We went to F&WF in 2011 and didn't get a single thing. We were on the DxDP and always too full. Great days! Maybe someday our paths will cross.
Sounds like a great day in Epcot. I agree with you, Boardwalk needs more quick service options. We usually end up grabbing something from the pizza window.
Sounds like a great day! Even if the food wasn't all that thrilling. Interested in that red slushy...is it just a F&WF thing?
10 fluffies!! OMG!
I know I've had a drink very similar to it before, but it may have been during the F&GF, so I can't say for sure that they have it all the time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Principessa_di_Fata
Oh the pierogies... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! Even a semi-mediocre review can't deter me... I LOVE THOSE! The raviolis looked amazing too! Now I'm all HUNGRY!
They were pretty good still. I think it's a matter of timing - if you get a fresh batch, they're especially tasty.
Quote:
Originally Posted by shnewell
Ok, as usual, I totally missed that you had started this TR! Your first day sounds like a whirlwind, but I'm living vicariously through you since our MNSSHP experience was not at all as good as yours (that's all I'll say...more details to come in my TR!).
It was so fun to meet you at AK! And, I assure you, that had we known you were coming right then, we'd have had a FAB waiting!! You can definitely tell in the photo how darn hot it was that day!
Sounds like a great day at F&WF. I the photo of you and DM with the Koenigs! I agree with you about the pierogie -- it was a little too doughy. The ravioli was good, but dang near impossible to eat without a knife, which we were unable to find at the Italy kiosk.
And you've really never stopped at Yorkshire County Fish Shop before? Really? It's one of my must-do items at Epcot (though I skipped it last trip because I was so stuffed from F&WF). I don't know how it reached that epic status for me, but I just love it!
We had such fun meeting y'all! And I've never, ever had anything from the Yorkshire County place before. It's one of DM's favorites! I usually get something else when she has fish & chips.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dutchdisneyfamily
That looks like a fun time. What can be better than eating food and hanging out with friends. I want to clear up something though. You aren't scared of ghosts and broken elevators, but trolls freak you out?
I honestly am not afraid, just really creeped out! It wasn't always that way, either. I think it started when I had to ride it by myself once because it was so early in the day. I mean ALL BY MYSELF - I was the only one in the boat. It was creepy!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wolfy6688
I've never heard them called fluffies before! That's cute. I've only heard them called stuffies.
Love your TR as usual I loved F&WF and can't wait to go back but I agree they should change some menu items.
I picked up the term fluffies from Jill! It's cute, right?
Quote:
Originally Posted by dsteiny23
Well we tried. Bunch of the same things. Except that delish looking fisherman's pie YUM!!! No shellfish for the bubble boy
And I'm disappointed in your mom! There's always room for B&C ice cream
Although we didn't get there as often this trip. There were some chilly nights!!!
I think for me, it was being too full. I think part of the reason for DM was that we'd have to walk over to the BC! But don't tell her I said that!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
What a great day, but I do hear you about some of the foods from the booths - you want something a bit unusual that perhaps you haven't tried before. I guess maybe those sorts of things didn't sell that well, so they settled for stuff people had heard of before?
I think that's the case - but it's a Food and Wine Festival - that's the one time people should be willing to step outside their comfort zones! I was asked to do a survey, and I made sure to put that in my comments, so maybe things will get better.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lfredsbo
Yeah - I finally got to get caught up and GREAT START!!! Although, I am BUMMED that we never got to meet..... Next time.....
Your mom is just so darn cute!!! all that trick or treating!!! We went to the party the night before when it was a monsoon out there..........and I was surprised at WDW giving refunds or exchanging tickets to come another night and I had told DH under no circumstances was I going on a Friday night - now kinda wishing I had!!! Forgot you were going that night!!
Okay........you got me all emotional thinking of you being emotional at the FOLK show..........we didn't see it this last trip and now I am worried that I may not see it again .....gonna have to add that to plans for Dec trip!!!
EOS in NYC??????????????????????????????????????????????? ???? Where????????????????????????????????????????????? I have to KNOW!!! oooooopppppsss...........got a little excited there!
Too bad we didn't run into each other. We were just never in the same park at the same time, I think. And I was really scared that MNSSHP was going to be packed because people were using their replacement tickets from the night before, but I think a lot of people decided not to come because they thought it might rain again. They should've known it wouldn't rain while I was there.
And the official closing date for FOTLK hasn't been announced yet, so maybe they'll keep it open until spring (or later).
And YES, EOS is in NYC! It's on 52nd between 5th and 6th.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mommapants
Well it might not be very creative but those ravioli were the best looking things I've seen in a long time. I caught myself licking my computer screen.
Italian food is my favorite, so I was getting something at the Italy booth no matter what, but there wasn't anything they offered that you can't get at any Italian place.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
It might be going to make way for Avatar land, which Disney announced a while back for Animal Kingdom, but recent reports suggested that things weren't going to plan on that front, so the general view now is that Festival of the Lion King probably will be at least a bit longer now...
Sorry to jump in Sharon, but I figured I'd try and help out.
Rumors were that it was due to close in January, but considering they haven't announced an official closing date, I suspect you're right and it's been pushed back! I was never excited about Avatar land (it might help if I'd seen the movie), so I actually kind of wish it doesn't happen.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DisneyLuv
Great TR! Mom and I attended F&W last year and had an awesome time! Aren't mother -daughter trips wonderful?Reading your report has taken me down memory lane (and given me something fun to do while I'm at work on a Black Friday all by my lonesome...).
Glad I could help! DM and I both enjoy our time together, especially DM. She's old-school, so she's completely spoiled my dad, and I know she appreciates not having to "take care" of him for a bit!
Quote:
Originally Posted by iloverags2
Just catching up with your report...as soon as I saw DM was traveling with you I knew that candy would be eaten a'plenty!
So far all of your days (barring the lateness on arrival day) seem to be definite hits!
You know my DM! She had that bag of candy finished within like a week (but she did put the stuff she doesn't like into the bowl to give out on Halloween).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Caldercup
Wow, Shashi... way to sell the F&WF to someone who's never been...
The F&WF sells itself, really!
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